Creation Care:Your kingdom come on Earth….Andy McCulloch, July 2020

Outline

• Revision – where does Creation Care sit in Missio Dei (from Day 1)?

• Starting point for Ecological Concern for Christians

• Evangelical Hurdles

• Is Creation Care a legitimate missional activity?

• Creation from the perspective of Islam and other faiths

• Our experience in South East Asia

• Resources to dig deeper

IMPORTANCE OF ‘STORY’

• “The whole point of Christianity is that it offers astory which is the story of the whole world. It ispublic truth.” (N.T. Wright)

• Christopher Wright calls this the “Bible’s GrandNarrative”, beginning with creation and endingwith the new creation.

• The reading for this session is Chapter 12 of thisbook, “Mission and God’s Earth”.

• Replace with Bartholemu slide from Melina

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GOD (Gen.1:1)

HUMANS (Gen. 1:26-28) EARTH (Gen.1:31)STEWARDSHIP

LORDSHIP

The original created order

GOD (Gen.3:6)

HUMANS (Gen. 3:8) EARTH (Gen.3:16,17f)

STEWARDSHIP

LORDSHIP

Post-Fall distortion of the created order

The consequences of sin:

broken relationships• Between God and

humanity

• Within humans

• Between humans

• Between humans and

creation

GOD (Gen.1:1)

HUMANS (Gen. 1:26-28) EARTH (Gen.1:31)STEWARDSHIP

LORDSHIP

New Creation = Creation Restored*

Starting point for ecological concern

• “Have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over thecattle and wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creepsupon the earth (Genesis 1:26).

• “The Lord God took the human and put him in the garden of Eden to serve itand to preserve it.” (Genesis 2:15).

• To the Lord your God belongs the heavens, even the highest heavens, theearth and everything in it (Deut 10:14)

• The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given tomankind. (Psalm 115:16)

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Knowing our Place in God’s WorldOur first commission as the ‘image of God’:

to be guardians and gardeners of all creation

Genesis 1:26-28 & 2:15

“How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all.”

Psalm 104:241 Kings 4:29-34; Job 12;7-10; Matthew 6:26-34

Knowing our Place in God’s WorldLearning from God’s two Books

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Integrated dimensions of Salvation – personal and cosmic

• Colossians 1:15-20

…..in him (Jesus) all things were created…..things in heaven and on earth….Reconciling all things through the blood of Christ.

• Therefore, the cross has cosmic dimensions (not just personal)

• All of Creation is included in God’s plan of redemption and reconciliation (aswell as people from every tribe and language)

• Isaiah 65 – beautiful picture of new creation

• In the Old Testament, whenever God acts in salvation/redemption, the wholeof creation rejoices!

• What God does for his people has implications for creation (and visa versa)

• Romans 8 – NT example of integration of personal and cosmic salvationCreation groaning in expectation of liberation from bondage

“God is the earth’s landlord and we are God’s tenants. God has given the earth into our resident possession (Ps 115:16), but we do not hold the title deed of ultimate ownership. So as in any landlord-tenant relationship, God holds us accountable to himself for how we treat his property.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 386)

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Creation Care as a missional activity

“Great would be the multitude, though perhaps not as great yet as it ought to be, of those Christians who care about creation and take their environmental responsibilities seriously…..

Smaller, however, would be the number (and as yet far from any kind of multitude) of those who would include the care of creation within their biblical concept of mission.

Smaller still (though cheerfully growing) is the number of those who see active creation care as their own personal and specific mission calling.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 413)

Evangelical Hurdles to Eco-theology

• Interpretation of “Dominion” in Gen 1:27-28

• Anthropocentrism

• Eschatology interpretations

Dominion

Anthropocentrism

Ecocentrism/BiocentrismAnthropocentrism

Eschatology Interpretation

2 Peter 3 – will the earth be destroyed by fire?

“God’s purpose is not eternal obliteration of the created order but its eternal restoration to his glorious purpose for it…..what we hope for from God affects how we are to live now and what our own objectives are for it.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 409)

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – will there be a rapture?

“Paul’s mixed metaphors of trumpets blowing and the living being snatched into heaven to meet the Lord are not to be understood as literal truth…….but as a vivid and biblically allusive description of the great transformation of the present world of which he speaks elsewhere.”

N.T Wright “Farewell to the Rapture, Bible Review, August 2001”https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/farewell-to-the-rapture/

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Subtle influence of Escapist Theology

Gospel Music

• This world is not my home I'm just a passin’ through (Jim Reaves)

• We are pilgrims in a strange land, We are so far from our homelandWith each passing day it seems so clear, This world will never want us hereWe're not welcome in this world of wrong, We are foreigners who don't belongWe are strangers, we are aliens, We are not of this world (Petra)

Movies

• Thief in the Night (1972)

• Left behind (2014)

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Further reflection: How to we read these verses within an eco-theological worldview?

Romans 12:2 (NIV)2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

James 4:4 (NIV)4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Philippians 3:20 (NIV)20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

The Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

“…if the greatest commandment is that we love God, that surely implies that we should treat what belongs to God with honor, care and respect.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 403)

How can we love our neighbour if we pollute the air, water and land on which sustains them?

An emerging movement

Traditionally the domain of liberal Christians, Creation Care is becoming a growing movement amongst evangelicals.

• Stewardship of God’s creation (creation care) is a clear biblical command andan integral part of what it means to follow Jesus as Lord.

• If Jesus is Lord of all the earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christfrom how we act in relation to the earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’sLordship is over all creation. Creation care is thus a gospel issue within theLordship of Christ. The Cape Town Commitment I-7-A

• But that’s not all: God’s creation is in the midst of a crisis that is ‘pressing,urgent, and that must be resolved in our generation’ (Jamaica Call to Action).This crisis, of which climate change and massive biodiversity loss are just apart, represents an existential threat to the future of human society.

Global Interaction Theology of Mission (updated 2019)

MISSION INVOLVES ALL AREAS OF LIFE

The creative, redemptive, and restorative mission of God is as extensive as the pervasive effect of human sin. As such, it is towards all people, embraces every part of life, is concerned with the whole creation, is both individual and corporate and has to do with both time and eternity. It is no less than the coming of the Kingdom of God.

A concern with the whole creation involves care for the whole environment, both people and places. God’s act of creating is his first missionary act and God’s design for creation ensures the nurture and care of all that lives and breathes within it. Creation first nurtures and cares for us. Caring for God’s creation is therefore, in return, an expression of his kingdom and a practical demonstration of loving our neighbours. Programs that focus on environmental issues are a unique opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ to people and all living things that are inextricably bound up with the created physical environment…….

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So, what about human need?

“It is certainly not the case that Christians involved in creation care have no corresponding care for human needs. On the contrary, it often seems to my observation that Christian tenderness toward the nonhuman creation amplifies itself in concern for human needs.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 416)

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“….those who take seriously, as Christians, our responsibility to embody God’s love for creation find that their obedience in that sphere often leads to articulate God’s love for suffering and lost people also.”

(C. Wright, The Mission of God, pp. 419)

So, what about saving souls?

Overlap between Christianity and Islam

• Creation story

• Role of Humanity

• Khalifa = stewardship.

• khulafa - implies settling and exploitingthe Earth in a responsible way. Throughthis concept, Muslims believe that Godis active in Creation and desires tocleanse and heal it.

Qu’ran in 2:30

Behold, I am about to place my trustee (khalifa) on earth.

Islamic theology since the 18th century has linked Adam’s call to God’s divine call for humanity as a whole.

This concept of human trusteeship has since become a core Islamic belief.

Alternative translations of khalifa include vice-regent, representative, and ambassador.

The notion of humanity as God’s khalifa has obvious parallels to the notion of stewardship within Christianity. Humanity is considered the pinnacle of God’s creation.

Pakistani writer Muhammad Zubair Farooqi writes:

Man is the apex of Creation. For his physical survival as well as for enabling him to fulfil the assigned role of Allah’s representative on earth he has been endowed with a unique blend of physical, mental and intuitive faculties which Allah has not given to any of His other creatures. In their life on earth, human beings apply these faculties to acquire knowledge about themselves and their environment. In this way they endeavor to achieve self-awareness and know the meaning and purpose of human life on earth.

Mohommad Zubair Farooqi, Islam, The Muslim World-Community and Challenges of the Modern Age Islamabad: Isti’ara, 1997, 122.

Does Islam have a Grand Narrative?

• Christianity: Creation Fall Redemption Restoration

• Islam: Creation Corruption Submission Judgement

• Both narrative’s have a common beginning and common threads.

What about Buddhism?

A missional opportunity?

“As Muslims and Christians roll up their sleeves and embark on projects together, they will extend their conversations about God’s good creation and expand each in their own way on the meaning of the human vocation on earth.”

Why care for Creation in Indonesia?

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Behaviour Change Theory

Source: www.betterpoints.it

Recognising the motivations of Behaviour Change

Source: www.changeworksrecycling.co.uk

Intersection of Environmental Behaviour and Worldview

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Want to dig deeper?

Volume 10Number 2December

2016

https://australia.arocha.org/

https://www.lausanne.org/networks/issues/creation-care